Wednesday, 17 August 2011

This weekend I was at a 21st at Smith and Wollensky Eastgate. What I'd always considered to be a smart, well-managed restaurant turned out to be one of the worst experiences I've ever had eating out.

The waiters seemed to be incompetent - they brought the wrong change, the wrong drinks, didn't know what was going on with the orders.

In the few short hours that we were there, about 3 glasses were knocked over and broken by waiters.

Standing in the queue for the carvery, I was repeatedly bumped in to and pushed out of the way by waiters coming from the kitchen.

I was given a dirty plate by the gentleman serving the food at the carvery, and when I asked for a clean one, he went to the kitchen to get me a brand new plate. Upon inspection, I found that there was old food dried underneath the plate - it hadn't been washed.

Also, I ordered a glass of tap water that came with all kinds of things floating in it.

All round, not a pleasant experience. Every other time I've been to Smith and Wollensky I've been really impressed with the food and general service. Not sure what went on this day, but I probably won't be going back there for a while.